1. Field of Invention
Aspects of this invention are related to endoscopic imaging, and are more particularly related to blending visible and alternate images so as to provide an enhanced real-time video display for a surgeon.
2. Related Art
The da Vinci® Surgical System, commercialized by Intuitive Surgical, Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif., is a minimally invasive teleoperated surgical system that offers patients many benefits, such as reduced trauma to the body, faster recovery and shorter hospital stay. One key component of the da Vinci® Surgical System is a capability to provide two-channel (i.e., left and right) video capture and display of visible images to provide stereoscopic viewing for the surgeon.
Such electronic stereoscopic imaging systems may output high definition video images to the surgeon, and may allow features such as zoom to provide a “magnified” view that allows the surgeon to identify specific tissue types and characteristics, as well as to work with increased precision. In a typical surgical field, however, certain tissue types are difficult to identify, or tissue of interest may be at least partially obscured by other tissue.
Additional image information of the surgical site may be simultaneously displayed to the surgeon by use of a picture in picture (PIP) display. The additional image information may be useful to the surgeon to improve the surgical outcome. However, the smaller picture in a PIP display may be too small to show a desirable level of detailed information. Moreover with separate image frames, a surgeon mentally fuses the two separate images or imaging modalities together, which can be fatiguing.